


Zähmen

by Valgus



Series: Words of Nations [16]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:59:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4595550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valgus/pseuds/Valgus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are you?” asked Ludwig. “You are very pretty to look at.”</p><p>“Veee… thank you! I am Feliciano. I am a fox,” Feliciano the Fox said.</p><p>A retell of chapter 21 of "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with Germany as The Little Prince and Italy as fox, where a small encounter of a prince and a fox changes their life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically Chapter 21 of “The Little Prince” where Germany (Ludwig) is The Little Prince and Italy (Feliciano) is the fox. Some properties might be changed for adjustion. Please don’t think too much of it and simply enjoy the exchange between Ludwig who has to yet learn about important things in life and Feliciano who was just as beautiful inside as he was outside.

Ludwig had travelled far from his closed-off mansion through villages and towns to seek experiences. On this particular small town, he saw a bar full with red-haired maids in light green dress. Ludwig remembered the maid he had on his mansion, but he kept walking.

*)*

Next to grain field outside the small town, laid a beautiful meadow with small flowers and occasional trees. The blue-eyed wanderer watch wind blowed the wheat on the field, listening to the rustles, when a singing-like voice greeted him.

“Good afternoon!” said the voice.

“Good afternoon,” Ludwig responded politely, even though he didn’t see anything as he turned to the source of voice.

“Ve! I’m right here! Under the olive tree!” said the voice.

Ludwig looked at the only olive tree on the meadow and saw a male just his age, with long reddish tail full of fluffy fur and two very large, triangle ears upon reddish hair. His amber-coloured eyes squinted as he smiled to Ludwig, who felt strangely comfortable as his cheeks turned warm at the sight of the other male.

“Who are you?” asked Ludwig. The heat on his cheeks was rising as he added, “You are very pretty to look at.”

“Veee… thank you! I am Feliciano. I am a fox,” Feliciano the Fox said.

“I am Ludwig. Come and play with me, Feliciano,” Ludwig said. He hated how he almost always sounded authoritive, but he knew he was only proposing and he was quite polite. But he was lonely. The sight of the maids in the small town made him even lonelier. “I am so unhappy, Feliciano.”

Feliciano shook his head, his big, foxy ears flopped as he moved, “Ve! I am sorry, Ludwig, I cannot play with you. I am not tamed.”

Ludwig wasn’t sure whether he was pouting, but he said, “I see. Please excuse me…”

Feliciano nodded and still sat there under the olive tree. His big, fluffy tail curled around his hips like a very comfortable sofa.

After sometime, Ludwig got curious, “What does that mean? ‘Tame’?”

Feliciano looked at Ludwig and Ludwig knew that the fox was staring at his light-coloured hair, eyes, and skin. 

“You do not live here,” said Feliciano, waving his tail once. “Are you looking for something?”

Ludwig answered, “I am looking for human. My books said that interacting with human could give me experience.”

“Human,” sighed Feliciano, rather dramatically, Ludwig thought. “They have guns and they hunt. It’s very unpleasant. Human also keep animal and make food like pasta. These are their only interests. Are you looking for pasta?”

“No. I am looking for experience. I am looking for friend. What does that mean, Feliciano? What does ‘tame’ means?” Ludwig asked.

Feliciano shook his head again, “It is an act that too often neglected. It means to establish ties. To make connection. To have relation.”

“’To establish ties’?” Ludwig repeated, curious.

“Yes,” Feliciano smiled. “You see, Ludwig, to me, you are still nothing more than a human male, just like millions of other human male—and I have no need of you. And you… you have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox and there are millions fox around. But, Ludwig, if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be special. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…” 

Ludwig never read about any of those in his books. He nodded and looked in the pretty fox, amazed and awed, “I am beginning to understand... you see, Feliciano, there’s this maid… I think she has tamed me.”

“It is possible,” Feliciano nodded. “On small town like this, one see all sorts of things.”

“Oh, but this is not on this small town,” said Ludwig.

Feliciano the Fox’s eyes widened and his mouth was left hanging open.

“On the other town?” the fox asked.

“Yes,” Ludwig answered. His town was very far from here.

“Are there hunters on that town?”

Ludwig shook his head.

Feliciano’s eyes seemed to shine brighter, “Ve! That is interesting! Are there pasta in that town?”

Ludwig shook his head again.

“Nothing is perfect,” sighed Feliciano. He spread his big tail behind him, leaned on the olive tree, and told Ludwig, “My life is very monotonous around here. I stole pasta and human tried to trap me. All pasta tastes the same and all the humans are just alike. It makes me bored. But if you tame me, Ludwig…”

Ludwig almost inched closer upon hearing the fox’s word, but he stay put, for he was afraid that the Feliciano could vanish if Ludwig scared him.

“But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life! I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from others. Other steps send me hurrying back on my hole underneath the ground, but yours… your step will call me! It will call me like music out of my burrow. Also, Ludwig, do you see the grain fields right there?”

Ludwig glanced to the field he passed through his way to this meadow and nodded.

“I can’t make pasta myself, so wheat is no use to me. The wheat fields doesn’t mean anything to me—it has nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But, Ludwig, you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…” Feliciano gazed at Ludwig for a long time. “Please tame me, Ludwig!”

Ludwig shook his head, “I want to, very much. But I don’t have a lot of time, Feliciano. I have human to meet, friends to make, experience awaits, and great many things to understand.”

“Only one understands the things that one tames,” said Feliciano. “Human have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, so human have no friends anymore… if you want a friend, tame me, Ludwig.”

Ludwig looked at the very pretty fox, “What must I do to tame you?” he asked.

Feliciano’s amber eyes shone again as he smiled, “Ve! You see, you must be very patient, Ludwig. First, you will sit down at a little distance from me—yes, just there—in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, Ludwig, every day…”

Ludwig nodded and made a mental note to the fox’s words.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Ludwig came back to the meadow. 

Feliciano was once again sat under the olive tree, but he didn’t smile upon the seeing his golden-haired friend. “It would have been better to come back at the same hour, Ludwig.”

Ludwig didn’t know about that. He sat a little closer to Feliciano the fox than yesterday, listening attentively.

“For example, if you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock, I shall begin to be happy! I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about…” the fox smiled, his amber-coloured eyes softened as he gazed at Ludwig. “I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you… One must observe the proper rites.”

“What is a rite?” asked Ludwig.

“An actions also too often neglected,” sighed Feliciano the fox, his reddish fox ears drooped. “They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, Ludwig, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all.”

Ludwig nodded. His chest felt full and warm as Feliciano smiled at him before the fox disappeared into his burrow.

*)*

So Ludwig tamed the fox. And when he had to continue his journey…

“Ve,” said Feliciano the fox. “I shall cry.”

Feliciano’s words made Ludwig felt like he just swallowed a log. “It is your own fault, Feliciano. I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…”

“Si, that is so,” said Feliciano, smiling even though his eyes were watery. Ludwig didn’t like the sight.

“But now you are going to cry!” said Ludwig.

“Si, that is so,” repeated the fox, who still smiled with teary eyes.

“Then it has done you no good at all!” Ludwig couldn’t stop staring at the fox—his fox, the one he tamed.

Feliciano shook his head, “It has done me good… because the colour of the wheat fields.” The fox was still smiling even though he looked like he wanted to cry, so Ludwig also smiled. “Go and look again at the maids, Ludwig. You will now understand that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me and I will make you a present of secret.”

Ludwig nodded and turned his back away from Feliciano.

*)*

The maids on the dining place looked very excited on Ludwig’s arrival. They were all just like his maid; beautiful maids with red hair, green dress, and white apron. But Ludwig had understood now.

“You are not all like my maid,” he said. “As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend… and now he is unique in all the world.”

The maids looked rather embarrassed. Perhaps Ludwig was the first traveller who said such thing.

“You are beautiful, but you are empty. One could not die for you. To be sure, any traveller would think that my maid looked just like you—the maid in my mansion. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other maids; because it is she that I give food when she was hungry; because it is she who clean my room; because it is she that taught me how to draw; because it is she that I chased around the town because I wanted her; because it is she that I promised that I will return after all this; because it is she the one who promised that she would wait for me bake me sweets. Because she is _my_ maid.”

*)*

Ludwig returned to the meadow at four o’clock. The sky was filled with grey cloud that made grumbling sound.

“Goodbye,” Ludwig said to the fox under the olive tree.

“Goodbye,” said Feliciano. “And now here is my secret, Ludwig, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

“What is essential is invisible to the eye,” Ludwig repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

“It is the time that you have wasted for your maid that makes your maid so important.”

“It is the time I have wasted for my maid—“ said Ludwig, so that he would be sure to remember.

“Human have forgotten this truth,” said Feliciano the fox, staring right into Ludwig’s eyes. “But you must not forget it, Ludwig. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your maid…”

“I am responsible for my maid,” Ludwig repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. 

*)*

_Somewhere, sometime different from the universe of Ludwig and his fox…_

“The meeting is dismissed,” Ludwig put the last sheet of paper of what to discuss at world meeting on the ‘finished’ side. He could practically hear the nations around him huffed in relief. His hands immediately tidied up his table, inserting necessary papers to his bag, and made sure there was nothing important left.

“Veee, Luddyyy…” 

Ludwig braced himself upon the familiar sound of certain Italian. Feliciano flopped into his back, his arms were too short to hugged Ludwig properly, but the auburn-haired nation got what he wanted; a pat on the head by Ludwig. “Alright, alright, we’ll go to that favourite pizza place of yours after I finish.”

Feliciano, unsatisfied with his inability to reached Ludwig’s height, chose to hug the taller nation’s arm, “Veee? Really? You’re already done, though, Luddy!”

Ludwig hissed, “Do not call me Luddy in public!” He grabbed Feliciano’s head at the sight and sound of Alfred’s giggle. Arthur who stood next to him blushed and quickly dragged away the bespectacled nation outside the meeting room. Ludwig thanked Arthur silently and planned of sending the thick-eyebrowed nation his best baumkuchen. 

After closing his bag, Ludwig slicked his hair back with his Feliciano-free hand and tugged the shorter nation to leave the room as well.

“Alright. Come on. We have two hours for dinner before bedtime. We have to stick to the schedule.”

Feliciano pouted. Ludwig wanted to pinch the Italian’s cheek, but he only raised his eyebrows.

“It’s important to have schedule,” huffed Ludwig, but he pat Feliciano gently on the top of his head.

Feliciano’s pout turned into a giggle, “You’re so serious, Luddy. Why is it very important for you to have schedule?”

“So we can prepare our heart for upcoming things. We also must observe rites. People don’t seem to care too much about rites…” Ludwig sighed as they made it outside the conference building. Night had fall upon the beautiful town in front of him and Ludwig could get used to walking with Feliciano anywhere in this kind of place. “Rite like us going out for dinner after the last day of conference is very important. It’s what makes the last day special and different from the other conference days. But if we just going out for dinner anytime, then every day would belike every other day and I should have never any vacation at all.”

When Ludwig stopped talking, he realized that Feliciano was staring at him, wide-eyed. He then smiled and giggled again, “Ludwig, you are so amazing. Who teach you all that? Is it Prussia?”

Ludwig tried to ignore a flipping sensation on his stomach, something that seemed to happen when Feliciano complimented him—which was a lot of time. “Well, my brother is a great teacher, but he didn’t teach me about this.”

“Ve? So who did?”

“A fox,” Ludwig’s answer came out without him realising what he said. “I mean… I think it was a fox.” What in the world was he talking about? Ludwig couldn’t feel any stupider than this. “Not that I talk to any fox at all… human cannot speak to animal—“

But Feliciano hugged his arm and nodded slowly, “So a fox, huh…? It must be a very wise fox.”

“… Yes. He was a very wise fox,” Ludwig chuckled and tugged Feliciano closer.

A very wise fox indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> One day I will definitely draw a fanart of Ludwig as Little Prince and Feliciano as fox!
> 
> Also 'Zähmen' mean 'tame' in German... or at least that's what my German edition of "The Little Prince" said.


End file.
